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Democratic officials: Obama has settled on Hagel for defense secretary

President Barack Obama has settled on Chuck Hagel, a Republican and former U.S. senator from Nebraska, to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, with an announcement expected Monday, Democratic officials tell POLITICO…

A Democratic aide described the White House’s logic for choosing Hagel, age 66: “Chuck Hagel is a decorated war hero who would be the first enlisted soldier and Vietnam veteran to go on to serve as Secretary of Defense. He had the courage to break with his party during the Iraq War, and would help bring the war in Afghanistan to an end while building the military we need for the future…

A Senate Democratic official said: “I don’t think Dems just fall in line. Ultimately, he may be confirmed. But at this stage, his fate is totally up in the air. He will really have to work hard to overcome some of his previous statements and positions.”

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Obama simply picks fights because he can. I applaud this decision. It means he’s squandering political capital on a pick that will likely fail.
That’s capital he won’t have on immigration and gun control.
The man is fool.

Obama’s probably doing this for the uninformed. Hagel has a bogus R next to his name, so the Senate GOP looks unreasonable opposing him. And if they do oppose Hagel, they’ll look racist and vindictive when he starts appointing more crackpots to SCOTUS.

Given the stupidity and gutlessness of most of the Senate GOP, maybe the GOP should save its fights for judicial opponents at all levels–at least appeals and SCOTUS.

Ordinarily Obama would throw someone like Hagel under the bus. But maybe Obama has concluded that Hagel’s leftish sneering not only satisfies the Democratic nutroots, it appeals to at least some of the dispirited voters who sat out the last election. Hagel is the kind of guy who tells everyone off without having much useful to say, and that’s just the ticket for this kind of president.